Awakening Our Inner Rednecks

Oh Lordy.

All we've heard about here in Our Town for the past couple weeks is "Man party this" and "Man party that", "James' stag this" and "James' stag that". The female counterparts have been subject to cryptic references to said night of camping, naked skiing, mud wrestling, gun shooting and knife throwing. Blood was drawn, dog bites were received, first aid kits were opened. We heard about the all-meat meals and the 'one guy who brought a vegetable' which was divided amongst the group (the vegetable, not the guy who brought the vegetable). And there was a silent ante which was raised to see what we'd do for Verena's staggette.

Though most of the guys figured we'd have the most fun tickling each other in our panties with rollers in our hair (whilst singing 'Beauty School Dropout') we had different things in mind.

Like gourmet food.
(OK some of you may not think that pureed doritos are classified as 'gourmet' but when that becomes home made chicken nuggets from AMG's nimble fingers, I dare you to question their gourmet nature)
Menu included: fig, Gorgonzola, caramelized onion and prosciutto pizza, risotto balls with Parmesan, smoked salmon and creme fraiche crisps, white chocolate saffron and cardamom truffles with pistachios, preccorino cheese with truffles, mascarpone with blue cheese threads, salad rolls with beet and asparagus, three cheese pizza, home made chicken nuggets, spicy dried olives, apricot and chile crackers, fresh antipasto, spiced eggplant, edamame, berry and yogurt cups, oh I could go on...


And wine.

And sangria.

And Bride-To-Be-Ninja-Snipers.
And normally docile marathoners shooting from the hip.

Howling at the moon.
Hey! Nice Fluvogs!

Note how the rarely seen in the wild Nature Nerd blends in with her background...floral skirt nearly imperceivable, and black top blending into the blanket of night...When she bares her teeth like that look out!! This is often followed by the sound of the mating giggle...

And then we did some gymnastics.

And some more.

And we drank scotch and took pictures of ourselves.

We also pulled each other around in a little red wagon.

And laughed at the people being pulled around in a little red wagon.

And there were moments when I'd thought we'd suddenly ended up on the Jerry Springer Show.

Some of us succeeded at handstands...

Some of us failed.

Some of us won wheelbarrow races...

And some of us didn't even make it to the start line...

And some of us simply seemed destined to spend most of the evening on that dewy grass...
Is that Mandy saying "You don't know me??"

Then we moved on to post-op wrestling...

And sampling of fine spirits...

or perhaps not so fine?

Epilogue.

(for the record the gun wasn't loaded...and neither were we...)

A Perfect Day

I woke up Friday morning a bit earlier than usual to give myself a few minutes to have a leisurely breakfast whilst reviewing some chemistry, my quiz was at 0830h.

It was a beautiful morning, which the photo of course doesn't do justice, but at least you can get a glimpse of the pink clouds and the snowy hills.

Friday turned out to be not such a great day, despite it's calm beginnings. In fact Friday was pretty much crap. I bombed my chem exam, which I had actually spent quite a while preparing for, and then physics class was both over my head and frustrating.

Ann Marie, Tobin, and Ryan stopped in on their way home from Penticton, which was a nice break from the downward spiral of school/self-loathing. Seeing them reminded me of how much I miss being home in Revy, surrounded by the people and places I love. These classes and the upcoming MCAT only seem to become more and more ridiculous to me as hurdles to go through to get into medicine. Why do I want to do that to myself anyway? I already have a degree and a well paying job that is flexible and challenging....isn't that what most people strive for? And if I got hit by a runaway ice cream truck tomorrow, would I die thinking--'thank goodness I learned about Coulombs Law and spent my savings on pre-requisites and rent in Kelowna?' Doubtful.

So I toyed with the idea of quitting. I did some calculations...how much tuition would I get back? Is it too late to sell my books back to the bookstore? Will I lose my damage deposit here if I leave before April? But I knew it was pointless. I have to stick it out. And somehow I have to make the best of doing physics and chemistry labs, memorizing things I will never use again, and learning obscure concepts that will likely never come in handy in the middle of a night shift in emerg somewhere when someone presents to me their sick child.

I couldn't sleep Friday night. I was up until almost 5am lying there, as usual (I am an on-again, off-again insomniac who appears to be on the on-again side of things) thinking about what I should do with my life. Right now, being a bobcat driver in Revy seems like a much more attractive offer than spending the next 8 months preparing for the MCAT. That way I could see John every day, enjoy my days off instead of worrying about practice problems and reading I should be doing, and I could sleep in my own bed, far far away from the tanning booths of Kelowna.

But then Saturday rolled around, and it was a perfect day.

John came back from Vancouver. So he was at the airport first thing. Both of us were bagged (he from drinking rum with Pete the night before--and me from not having slept) but we stayed up and managed to push through the desire to sleep for the rest of the day.

We did some physics together, which was hugely helpful, and actually kind of fun. We figured out how the theoretical experiment I had to perform would in fact result in a major electrical disaster, involving my incineration by lightening due to a styrofoam ball coated in metal flying though the air at 1/10 the speed of light. Thankfully it was a theoretical experiment. I did some studying, John did some putzing.

Then we went to the kitchen store and John proceeded to shower me with completely undeserved gifts...a beautiful, brand spanking new, sparkling, gorgeous Global fillet knife that could cut a man's heart out with a couple of flicks and then create a still-beating serving of paper thin slices for anyone around who cared to try it. Oh, chicken bone stock and pork roasts here I come.

We then went to my other favorite culinary theme-park--Valoroso Foods. John picked up a selection of cheeses, prosciutto, and spicy marinated eggplant. I got my favorite Fleur De Sel that I am almost out of.

Then our meal at Waterfront Wines. The restaurant we both love here in K-town. Enjoying each other and salmon wrapped prosciutto, leek and arctic char soup, and for desert the creme brulee (of course) and a yummmmmy croissant bread pudding with chocolate sauce and roasted hazelnuts....and a bit of Botrytis affected dessert wine from Quails Gate.

For second dessert we went to Future Shop for necessities like ink-jet cartridges, Sex in the City (the final season), and season 3 of The Office.

A stop at the great wine store on Dilworth resulted in a mini bottle of Champagne (and a stock up on red Zin, just in case there is a world wide shortage on the horizon).

I couldn't think of a more perfect day. All my favorite haunts, with my favorite person, and coming home with all sorts of treats. It was the universe balancing out Friday in a large way, I suppose.

You know you have found your soul mate when you can have fun together, whether it is doing physics homework or drinking Champagne and watching Sex in the City. And in both cases, he doesn't care that you are wearing sweat pants.

isn't she a beaut?

Do Do Do Lookin' Out My Back Door

I love these teeth-like icicles threatening to devour all the houses around town right now...

I also like the note that James left near the sink after our accidental party on Thursday night. It ended up being such a grand event! The plague had literally arrived on Gill's doorstep so we diverted the intended guests to our house---not sure if anyone would show, Anna and I started roasting veggies and making soup. Soon the house was pull of delicious aromas and we had started drinking some delicious red Zin. The veggies became veggie strudel, the soup became a Jamaican coconut puree, the bread became a banana-bread-pudding-boozy-saucy-delight-a-la-Anna (Anna wasn't boozy but she was saucy). John was blasting Bard and reminiscing and then people just started showing up, lots of people! But thankfully they brought beer and salad and there was enough food for all. It snowed all evening and I was sooo excited to hit the pow pow that I opened 2 bottles of bubbly to celebrate the blessings of the snow gods and the blessings of my dear friends and delicious food.

But alas, the norovirus paid me a second visit that night, and still it lingers as an unwelcome guest. So skiing was dammed for me. And the bubbly was in vain. Well the night and next day wasn't a bust for anyone else in the gang. So far it seems I am not the 'Norvirus Mary' of our town (but only time and incubation averages will tell). Until then, keep up the hand washing and no doorknob licking.

New Leaf

(norwalk virus)

Well, it is that time again. A time of resolutions and revolutions.

Things I didn't do over the holidays which I intended to do:

-study biology
-begin correspondence organic chem class
-read a few books
-drink a lot of hot chocolate
-see my family
-buy downhill boots and perhaps a ski pass

Things I did do over the holidays:

-skied a fair bit
-slept in a fair bit
-cooked a hell of a lot
-turned around 50kms outside of Revelstoke on my way to AB because the highway was ass
-got the norovirus a second time
-spent time with all my great friends in Revey
-spent time with all of their great kids
-begrudgingly returned to Kelowna
-bought the first Harry Potter book on tape
-finished my application to SABA University


So, I have been humming and hawing about this whole resolution thing and I am still feeling unsettled and undecided.

A couple of sure things...

As I writhed with the norovirus part deux I made a lot of empty promises to the universe with the hopes of sudden recovery...

1) I will abstain from alcohol---including Champagne...
2) I will abstain from rich foods, including my favorite stinky cheeses
3) I will drink more water
4) I will be a better person overall...

So I recovered, well, I should say I am still recovering...but by thoughts on food and food choices linger....it seems that there was a lot of sugary, rich, delicious foods and a lot of alcohol consumed over the past 3 weeks and I think that in fact I will attempt a cleanse for the next 28 days. My own Amy-Winehouse-Lindsay-Lohan-Brittany-Spears detox if you will (minus the custody battles, jail time, and alcohol monitoring devices).

Yup. As hard as it will be to pass up a tasty Syrah or some of AM's delicious chocolate something-somethings I am going to do a 28 day no alcohol, no refined sugar, no vinegars, white flour, chocolate, coffee, red meat, well...you get the picture.

The only reason I am blogging this is to make it that much more difficult to break.

So tonight I went for dinner alone and toasted a pretty bad local Gewurtz and fish dinner, and have now filled my fridge with the necessary foods. Wish me luck. It is not so much a new leaf I am turning over, I am just going to water the tree with something different for a little while.

No tempting allowed when I come home!!!

I know it is cliche to do a cleanse after New Years, but hell...I never claimed to be an original.

Happy New Year!

The Rest of the Best

April 14th 2007
We took our yuppie-mobile to Pentiction for the Fest of Ale. Erroneously believing it to be a local beer tasting event we contemplated maybe having to dress up, asking each other questions like "do you spit at a beer tasting?" and "I wonder what we get for cleansing the palate?" In reality it was more of an excuse to catch up with our super fun, talented, and greatly missed (by me!) friends James and Verena who were volunteering for Crannóg Ales. Once we arrived we realised that it was more of a "chug-as-much-beer-as-you-can-before-seven-and-try-to-score" kind of event. The crowd consisting of 'barely nineteen' girls, frat boys, old alcoholics, bikers, and a smattering of uptight looking professionals. We weren't sure which category we wanted to fit into. Attire seemed casual to say the least, as ample skin exposure provided spots to stick "Mike's Hard Lemonade" tattoos and the men wore shirts like "I Like Chicks Who Like Chicks", "For My Next Trick I'll Need a Condom and a Volunteer" and our favorite, "The Liver is Evil, It Deserves to Be Punished".

We hung around the pulled pork vendor so John could get his meat groove on and bought mostly Crannóg ales, as "Backhand of God" stout and "Bogtrotter Brown Ale" were our favorite bevvys. Did a lot of people watching and hung around James and Verena while they worked. All in all, entertaining but as the decibel and drunkenness level rose throughout the afternoon we decided to split before it got ugly(er).

Went back to the Sandman. Napped the rest of the afternoon and realised when James, Verena and Arron showed up around 7:30 that we must have all reached adulthood as our only aspirations for the evening were to eat salad and get a good nights sleep before climbing at Skaha Bluffs the next day.

April 15th 2007

Had a gorgeous day. Enjoyed watching John climb. Also enjoyed getting spanked by the rock my first day out since January. Yep. Gotta love it when you can't make the first move on a 5.7!! Sometimes Gneiss rock is not so nice :) Saw Verena and gang laying the smack down on the routes around us and was entertained by the fact that if you really want to freak V out, try and show her your fallen off toenails! Hee hee. Found some entertainment in nearby climber who was bragging to his girlfriend that he could climb a certain route in his flip flops it was so easy--only to watch him have to be lowered down after 2 moves. Whoops.
On our way out some young lads were climbing one of Guy's routes when we saw a flash of legs and chalk bag to whizzing buy which yells of "dude that was a whipper", "wicked whipper man!" and "dude, did you check my whipper?" Ahhh young 'dudes'.

Dinner with John's sister Deidre, Robert and baby Liam was lovely. A postprandial trip to the park showed me that John can have just as much fun on the monkey bars and slides as a 15 month old can!

At Lennie's urging we bought a bottle of Mateus and had our white-trash-night-out in a cheap motel as gut rot and rumblings did not seem too conducive to camping that night.

April 16th 2007

Got up nice and early, nearly received 3rd degree burns from wired *Bucs barrista who (accidentally) flipped a large cup of boiling water in my direction. After jumping out of the way to only a soggy foot and spray on the joggers she said "well at least it was only water", John mumbling "10000 degree Celsius water". One apology from manager and free coupon later we trucked out to the Bluffs again, only to find it windy, overcast and chilly. So we wimped out and went wine tasting instead!

Mission Hill is swanky and the tasting folks were nice but Quails' Gate Winery was more fun and their Pinot, Ice Wines, and Gewurztraminer all kicked anything we tasted at MH out of the running. We stocked up and headed home. To our favorite livingroom in the world, Anne Marie and Ryan's. John hoping to cash in on a dinner invite proved to be successful and we dined on shrimp tacos, spaghetti squash and chocolate turtles. Couldn't have been a better bookend to a weekend of wine, food, friends, oh...and frat boys.

Revelling in Revelstoke

Back in the Southern bits of the world, a nice change again. Moved into a wicked pad and just going through the slow process of unpacking and organizing my so called life. The boxes have been collecting dust from past 6 months to 2 years.
Today I found my Braun hand mixer and actually squealed with delight. Such pathetic things excite me these days.

But on to non pathetic things...

Anne Marie and Ryan finally had their baby! Shheeeesh! It's already been nine months of waiting!!

So great! Wee Tobin Gill burst onto the scene on Valentines Day at 7lbs and 2 oz. He's such a cutie! Thatch of hair and high ape index, the child will surely be the design of all the new baby girls in this town.

Have managed to tear myself away from Physics (ahem!) a couple of times to create havoc on the ski hill at kicking horse, and by havoc I mean weaving about like an old lady whose lost control, ever widening turns with arms circling wildly behind me.

Well, it is no quite that bad...the AT gear has improved my downhilling somewhat. As some might say to my former Tele venture, "fix the heel, fix the problem". But I say DAMN them! tele just looks sooooo much cooler (except when I am doing it, granted).

So for now I busy myself bopping around the house, cooking, drinking champagne (that's right, Champagne, not sparkling wine--okay the odd sparkling wine), stoking the fire--ohh yeah--my new favorite activity. I feel so primal splitting kindling and lighting stuff on fire. And doing Physics from time to time. I have noticed an inverse relationship with amount of people I meet to hours spent doing physics.

Which brings me to Saakje and Heenke. Oh how my liver quivers when I mention their names. Many good nights already filled with Saakje's stories from around the world and Heenke's Finnish perspective on everything. Great laughs and equally good wine drinking skills. Hope to be uploading photos of Heenke in his Manties soon. Either that or the leather thong he claims to own.

Lucky for John I didn't have my camera handy after our apres party from two days ago! A mistake I shant make twice. A jovial man when he's heavily imbibed, yet strange sleeping patterns under his desk curled up with a paderno pot under his arm.

Who said small towns are sleepy??